Page 36 of The Medici Return

The time was approaching 10:00P.M.

He had many friends within the Curia, but one of his closest was Charles Cardinal Stamm, an Irishman, the man once in charge of the Entity. He’d served for decades, reappointed by pope after pope until the current pontiff, when he’d been asked to retire. The talk had been that Ascolani had championed that effort, wanting the Entity for himself. But as with every other rumor, nobody knew for sure. Even so, Ascolani most definitely ended up in charge of the Entity.

Jason had left Vatican City and made a quick stop at his apartment to change clothes, losing the clerical garb and donning plain pants, a pullover shirt, and casual shoes. Things he normally wore either at home or on the weekends. He then walked the streets of Rome toward an apartment building about three kilometers away, one of many the Holy See owned across the city. The apartments inside provided affordable housing for various cardinals, bishops, and priests who worked in the Vatican. Stamm had been allowed to keep his residence, most likely as an offering so he’d stay quiet in retirement—an offering that could just as easily be taken away.

He’d called ahead and Stamm was waiting up for him. His old friend was a tiny man, rail-thin, pinched in the cheeks, with a pockmarked face and a hooked nose. The hair was a trademark close-cropped frizz of silver. His age? Hard to say. But based on longevity it had to be approaching ninety. He’d been known for wearing only a trace of a scarlet bib below a white clerical collar just above the top button of a plain black cassock. No signet ring. A simple brass pectoral cross the only sign of his high office. Scarlet was reserved solely for mandated occasions. True to the nature of the Entity, Stamm had always kept an extremely low profile. But his prickly humor, boundless vigor, and suspicious nature had not made him a favorite within the Curia. For all his faults, though, Stamm was noted as calm and precise, his words always ringing with reason. He possessed a legion of friends, but also a large quantity of enemies.

Ascolani chief among them.

They sat, the entire apartment the picture of austerity. Nothing flashy or extravagant. More what you’d find at a secondhand store.

He explained all that had happened.

“Quite a day you have had,” Stamm said.

“An understatement.”

The cardinal chuckled. “I know what you mean. I had one of those days myself a few years ago when I was unceremoniously let go. You are being herded, Jason, along a predetermined path, like a rat in a maze.”

“By who?”

“There is a host of likely suspects, but one shines above all others.”

He knew. Ascolani. “Why? I am no threat to him.”

Stamm sat back in his chair, head angled to the ceiling. “But thePignus Christiis.”

“Is there something to it?”

“No one has actually ever seen one. Supposedly, they were common in the early days, just after Constantine sanctioned Christianity and made it the empire’s religion. It was all those bishops and early popes had to offer to get anything. A promise before their God. But its use faded away as the church’s secular power and wealth grew. No need to make any sacred promises. The church came to be able to do whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted, however it wanted, without repercussions.”

“Is it true what Casaburi said about the Medicis loaning ten million florins to Julius II?”

“It is certainly possible. The Warrior Pope spent a lot of money, and the Medicis had the funds to lend.”

“What does it matter any longer?”

Stamm pointed a thin, gaunt finger his way. “It matters a great deal. The pope swore before God that a promise would be kept. He placed that promise in writing, under papal seal. To breach that would be a mortal sin.”

“Since when do popes care about committing mortal sins?”

“I agree. They had no problem denying that some of our priests were pedophiles. Lie after lie after lie. The church cannot afford another blow like that to its credibility, no matter how ancient the threat may be.”

“You’re saying that if such a document exists, we would honor it?”

“The pope would have no choice. Either that or openly breach the promise. Either one is bad. I suspect an ecclesiastical court might even uphold the validity of that pledge.”

“Why would Ascolani care about this?”

“He fashions himself as a savior. I suspect this would be another grand gesture on his part. Saving the Holy See, and all that. It is no secret that the current Holy Father’s mind is not his own. And I mean no offense. I know he is your friend. But Ascolani controls the information flow, so he controls him. Totally. That is why Ascolani wanted the Entity. He can now feed the pope whatever information he wants. He is the gatekeeper and, from what I am told, the pope’s personal secretary is close to the secretary of state.”

He’d heard the same thing.

“Ascolani is nothing but trouble,” Stamm said. “I tried to warn the pope when he asked for my resignation, but he would not listen. The Secretariat of State demands a more moderate personality, somebody who is a diplomat as well as an administrator. Who inspires trust, not controversy. And under no circumstances should that same man head the Entity.”

“I have to find that document,” he said to Stamm.

“No, Jason.Wehave to find that document.”

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